Hospital Bag

In the days before Emi came I googled a bunch of "hospital bag check lists" to see what I would need to bring. Baby Center has a list, The Bump has a list, our hospital had a list, but they were all different and left me a little confused. So to remind myself for the next baby, here is what I brought, what I did and did not use and what I wish I had brought.

• Night gown Bought especially for the hospital stay and didn't wear is once because you can't breast feed in it. Super unnecessary. 
• Cheap underwear Glad I bought them because I used them after I left the hospital, but didn't need to bring them with. I wore the mesh throw away kind they gave me at the hospital while I was there and really preferred that. I had no idea how much you bleed after giving birth! Holy cow! Glad I didn't ruin my own things. 
• Nursing bra Again, glad I bought it, but it wasn't ideal for me at the hospital. 
• Nursing tank-top The greatest thing ever invented. I bought one at Target per a recommendation I read online and my mom ended up buying me four more while I was still in the hospital. These tanks are worth their weight in gold. (Gilligan & O'Malley brand) 
• PJ bottoms I only brought one pair (plus the ones I came in wearing) and had more brought while I was there. I would pack three or so in the future
• Toiletries I brought minis of all my stuff and was so glad I did. The nurses said they had shampoo if I wanted it but I preferred to use my own. Showering for the first time after giving birth was pivotal for my sanity and I'm glad i had my own things including contacts and make-up
• Pads I wore the ones the hospital gave me and then switched to the night time Always kind once I was home. Didn't need to bring any. 
• Nursing pads and cream I cringe at the thought of not having lanolin cream, it was a life-saver. 
• Boppy Didn't pack it and had it brought, makes feeding so much easier. 
• Baby Mittens Emi had long fingernails from the get-go and the hospital doesn't give you a file and shorten them, so someone had to bring me a pair of her little mittens from home so she didn't claw her eyes out. I won't be forgetting this next time. 
• Baby going home outfit no explanation needed here.
• Socks with grippers on the bottom I read this on some list to have to walk the halls, but they're unnecessary. When I did leave my room, which was rare, I wore my flip-flops. I'm a desert girl, what can I say? Plus you sweat a TON after delivery and socks just seemed uncomfortable.  
• Camera
• Lap-top
• Couple changes of clothes, pjs, snacks and HIS OWN PILLOW ;) for Dad
• Scentsy Plug-In and Bar! Seriously. I brought it to be soothing during labor and that just happened too fast to use it, but it was so nice to have in recovery. All the nurses said how our room smelt amazing and it got people taking about Scentsy which I love! I will absolutely be bringing this again! (We warmed Luna in case you're curious... very calming :) )  
• Newspaper! I didn't fill out a baby book (kind of wish I did) but I still wanted to get Emi's hand and footprints and so we had them stamp them on the front page of the newspaper that ran on her birthday! Now it is a keepsake! Will probably have it framed or preserved some how.    

Miss Emi K

Most of you have heard, but on June 12 at 6:36 am (four weeks early!) our sweet baby girl, Emileen Kerry Andrus, made her debut.

Here is how it happened...

I had been having what I now know are contractions Saturday afternoon. They were not painful at all, just a tightening for a few seconds, very similar to how it felt to have her push against me. I even asked someone if that is what a contraction felt like and they said no. Goes to show that labor is different for everyone. Anyway, around midnight Sunday morning I could tell something was different and the contractions started getting a little painful. I started timing them around 2 am, they were ranging from 15-60 seconds long and coming about every 10 minutes. They were too frequent and starting to get too painful to get any sleep. I woke Chris up around 3 and asked him when he thought we should go to the hospital, he said, "I don't know" and I said, "Well I think I'm in labor!" and he said, "I don't know" and went back to sleep. :) haha- funny now but kind of annoying then. Thanks a lot honey.

He woke up to my groaning about an hour later (4 am) and realized that this was actually happening. He threw himself a bag together and I called my mom to let her know we were heading to the hospital. We checked in at the hospital at 4:40am, I remember because you have to write the time on the paperwork. Speaking of which, why on earth did I have to do paperwork?! I had already preregistered and it was just a bunch of signatures, but seriously? I have no idea what I was signing, I was a bit distracted. We sat in the waiting room for about 5 minutes before Carrie, my rockstar of a nurse, brought me into triage. She checked my vitals and had me change and she monitored the baby for a few minutes. She asked me all sorts of questions about my health history and had me rate my pain level from a one to a 10. She said something like, five is like you could cry, 10 is near death (ok she didn't say near death, but the worst). I said four and could tell that she was skeptical about admitting me, especially since I wasn't due for four more weeks. Finally she checked me to see if I had made any progress since my Thursday appointment. Oh had I ever, I was a seven! She got this shocked look on her face and said, "OK, we're having a baby!"

They quickly got us into a labor and delivery room (5:45 am) and realized that they didn't know the results of my Strep B swab I had just had and so they start calling every lab in town to try to find my results, but alas, they could not be found. So they had to treat me as if I were positive, which meant a bag of antibiotics into my IV, not a big deal. I got on a labor ball to help the pain, but I'm pretty sure it just made the contractions come faster, so I just got back into bed and chewed on ice chips. They asked if I wanted to get into the jacuzzi but I could tell if I got in the baby would be born there so I said no. The contractions were coming so fast, right on top of each other, it was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. I found it really helped me to have Chris count for me during the contractions so I knew how much longer they would last, since they were about a minute long. The only problem was he would start counting with my breathing, so I knew the timing was off depending on if I was breathing fast or slow. I found this really annoying, but didn't have the strength to say anything to him.

I had told the nurse I wanted to try to have her naturally, but at one point I did ask for an epidural. I'm weak, what can I say? It never happened though. A bit after 6 am I felt the urge to push (it was just Chris and I in the room) and so I just started pushing and I broke my own water. Chris called the nurse and told her and I asked if I could push and she said no and I said no, I have to push, so I did. They quickly called the on-call doctor in. I kept pushing on my knees, because it felt the most natural and they kept telling me to hold my knees back to my chest to push. Even though I know this is how it is done, it did not feel intuitive. Chris was by my side the entire time, pretty sure he lost circulation to his arm for much of that, up until Emi started crowning. He got all teary eyed and emotional on me and had to sit down :) Carrie, the L&D nurse really stepped in then and talked me through the rest of the delivery. A dozen or so pushes and an episiotomy later, Emi was here!

She cried as soon as she was out, which was music to my ears. She was a little purple-ish right when I saw her but as soon as they rubbed her clean she pinked right up. She has a full head of dark brown hair (which I think will lighten up) and is such a tiny thing. She was 19 in. long and weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz, five days later she was down to just 6 lbs. at her first check up. I'm hoping we'll hear she has put on some more weight next week at her next apt.

She is so beautiful and such a good baby, I don't know how we got so lucky.